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We cannot trample upon the humanity of others without devaluing our own. The Igbo, always practical, put it concretely in their proverb Onye ji onye n'ani ji onwe ya: "He who will hold another down in the mud must stay in the mud to keep him down.

[W]hatever you are is never enough; you must find a way to accept something, however small, from the other to make you whole and to save you from the mortal sin of righteousness and extremism. (p. 154)

In the end I began to understand. There is such a thing as absolute power over narrative. Those who secure this privilege for themselves can arrange stories about others pretty much where, and as, they like. Just as in corrupt, totalitarian regimes, those who exercise power over others can do anything.

It began to dawn on me that although fiction was undoubtedly fictitious it could also be true or false, not with the truth or falsehood of a news item but as to its disinterestedness, its intention, its integrity.

I wouldn't put myself under the democratic dictatorship even of angels and archangels.

Charity is the opium of the privileged,

Those who mismanage our affairs would silence our criticism by pretending they have facts not available to the rest of us. Our best weapon against them is not to marshal facts, of which they are truly managers, but passion. Passion is our hope and strength.

That we may accept a limitation on our actions but never, under no circumstances, must we accept restriction on our thinking.

As the saying goes, the unexamined life is not worth-living.

While we do our good works let us not forget that the real solution lies in a world in which charity will have become unnecessary.

Don't disparage the day that still has an hour of light in its hand.

a man should hold his compound together, not plant dissension among his children